Saying sorry simple for Swedes

From European Voice's Entre-Nous column

6/15/05, 5:00 PM CET

Updated 4/23/14, 8:35 PM CET

Sorry is an easy word to say when you are not in government. Swedish Conservatives took out a full-page advertisement in the Latvian newspaper, Diena, in order to say sorry to Latvia. “We would like to extend our humble apologies to the people of Latvia. As Swedish citizens we’re truly ashamed and upset at the way our government and unions are behaving.”

The cause of this synthetic contrition was the treatment of L&P Baltic Brygg, the subsidiary of a Latvian company, which, according to Swedish conservatives, was prevented from working in Sweden and forced into bankruptcy by protectionist trade unions in Sweden, backed by the government.

Swedish conservative MEP Christofer Fjellner circulated a copy of the advert in the European Parliament, prompting Socialist Jan Andersson to send an e-mail saying: “We want to apologise to all European workers for the views of Mr Christofer Fjellner and his right-wing friends on trade union rights in Europe.”

The apology appeared on Sweden’s national day, 6 June, which commemorates the accession of King Gustav Vasa in 1523 and the adoption of a new constitution in 1809. In between times, in the 1620s, the Swedes won out over the Poles, conquering part of Latvia, including Riga. But these are now known as “the good Swedish times”. So perhaps no apology is needed.

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